Make sure you don’t get too down on head advice

You are falling back is a comment that almost every golfer has been told at some time or other. The question is why?

One main reason is being told to keep your head down is, as the head is quite heavy, the momentum stays back causing the player to end up literally on the back foot.

Picture 2

In the first picture, at the end of my swing my backside is behind the line of the ball by at least six inches. Note how my club has not finished naturally behind the back of my neck/head. My belt buckle is certainly not facing my target, and my right heel is only just up clear of the ground.

In this type of swing there is no right side release so the strongest, dominant side of the body is not really coming into play. A lack of direction and a massive lack of distance, would be the norm in this type of swing. You would also find that the middle irons would all tend to go the same distance.

Striking the ground well before the ball would also feature highly, as the low point of the arc would be at least two inches before the ball. This would be great for a driver, but bad for everything else.

In the second picture my follow through is much longer, with my right shoulder slightly nearer to the target than my left one. My entire front side is facing directly towards the target, and in response my right shoe is up in the classic ‘ballerina position’.

None of this would have been possible if I had listened to the “keep your head down brigade” - in fact my head has swivelled to correctly allow my eyes to follow the flight of the ball. Then I am not relying on playing partners, to tell me where my ball has gone.

If this all sounds familiar, you need to stop thinking in terms of keeping your head down. At the end of this particular swing, note how my rear is now in line with the two other balls lying on the ground. I can truly say that my right side has fired through the impact area, resulting in a proper release of the stronger, dominant side, of all right handed golfers.

As soon as you hear/feel the strike on the ball get your head up, to enable your eyes to follow it until it lands. Do not worry if you feel it is coming up too early.